While watching I Love Lucy on TV Land I thought about something.
When Ricky and Lucy went to Hollywood they brough Ethel and Fred with them. It seems, as cheap as Fred was he wouldn’t pay to stay in a nice hotel that long.
If so why at the end would he be so upset when Ricky forgot to buy the Train Tickets. And why at the end when Ricky says we are leaving tomorrow the studio isn’t paying for this anymore, would the Mertzes get upset. They could stay on right?
Ricky paid for the trip to California (Fred refused to pay for half the gas). The studio paid for the hotel rooms in Hollywood. Fred got upset when Ricky sold the car, but didn’t provide Fred and Ethel any way to get home.